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Ismerila
Ismerila is a strange creature, preferring to be seen as an adult humanoid female. Her biology labels her as a chimera, a mixture of many different creatures and it shows. Both in appearance and abilities, heart and soul, she remains a complex creature at her core. History Creation and Pre-Life Ismerila, before her true creation lived many different lives, the most notable being a dystopian earth in an alternate universe. Her mother was a nurse, given an exorbitant amount of money destined to buy a new house for the family whilst overseeing a strange government operation designed to punch a hole through space-time into a barren earth that never had humans and terraform it to expand humanity's exploits further without fear of destroying their precious planet. During the portal's power up, the metal containment rings broke, snapping the portal's exit point and causing an explosion. As Ismerila ran down to assist the ones injured in the blast, the portal snapped open and she was sucked into an entirely new world. Unfortunately, she wasn't the only one. Among her other previous lives, she was a nomadic dragon, a young harpy, a leviathan egg and some unknown species of duck. At the beginning of what Ismerila has come to be known as, she experienced pain like no other as the magical energy fused, bonded, and held together her souls. As bits of her died, the other souls flowed in to keep a working order in her form. It is during this young, formative time that she's discovered by a cult of satanic were-beasts, using pit fights and charity work to hide their intentions to summon demons into the world. Originally being mistaken for a demon of some sort, in her attempted escape she's taken to the leader of the cult. As she's seen the entire inside of the facility, he confesses his true nature as a were-beast and follower of the dark arts, using orphans from the street and experimental medicines coupled with dark magic to turn them into the ultimate fighters. As she was not a demon but an amalgam of many creatures, she's thrown into the fray time and time again, winning money for the cause as well as the leader's heart. When she rejects his advances, he attempts to assault her. Luckily enough for her they neglected to remove the shackles, and she used the sharp edge to bash his skull in and slip free. Fleeing from the scene, she takes shelter in a cave and is discovered by a man who attempts to help her. Removing the shackles from her wings and teaching her to survive in the wild, they eventually become close. After months of living side by side, she discovers the demonic-looking gentleman speaking to the brother and head guard of the cult whom had originally captured her. When confronted, he confides in her that he too had escaped through buying his own freedom, and promised her that he would never give her location away to the cult. He sealed this promise by giving her his most treasured position- The Demonia dagger. Things went smoothly for weeks, until one morning she wakes to find the cult standing at her doorstep. No longer able to defend her, her previous partner in crime lay in the mud beaten and battered. Ismerila, terrified of going back (As they surely would have forced them to fight and kill each other) fled the scene. Perused by hitmen, most of whom were promised freedom at her demise, she took shelter in a ruined building. Free at Last! Despite her running, she is at last cornered by an assassin whom she had evaded many times before. Expressing his displeasure at her, he challenges her to a fight, implying that he had killed her partner and was the one who had beaten him so horribly previously. Ismerila, blind with rage and seeing no way she could further run from them accepts and fights him. Though the battle his hard fought, he eventually leads her into a trap that collapses a tree onto her lower half. He takes this opportunity to humiliate her further, kicking her face resulting in a massive scar across her lip, and finally, stepping upon her back to completely tear her wings off. Leaving her for dead, he walks home with his prize and is subsequently freed from slavery for his services. Ismerila, ready to call it quits and pass to the other side, makes herself as comfortable as she can in the mud to await death. Death, however, never comes for the Amalgam. Instead, a young man reveals himself to be an Elven angel of light. He expresses his fury and sorrow that her wings are clipped, and lifts her from the mud to be taken care of. Ismerila, already unconscious, fails to remember this. Upon waking again, she discovers the sibling of the angel who had rescued her, and they quickly become fast friends. She teaches Ismerila the ways of the Elvenfolk, and Ismerila discovers here that she has a particular knack for healing magics. Her unique creation affords more mana to use with spells, and a higher resistance to arcane radiation. Being accepted into the Elven culture, she begins a romance with the angel. From this, Lyerin, her daughter is born. All things, good and bad must come to pass however. Ismerila gifts her mate with a large, pure mana crystal she had spent years working on, and he accepts it into the heart of his being. Ismerila's chaotic energy from her split and fractured souls seeps into the angel, and shatters the pure light into rainbows. He experiences pain as she had upon her creation, and goes mad with fury. Convinced destroying her is the only thing that will give him peace, her pursues her across the skies, she in her dragon-form, he as a massive gilded eagle. In her panic, she claws at the air, seeing a path between two universes, and planeswalks for the first time. Stranger in a Strange Land Ismerila only being able to fly as a dragon now, due to the loss of her wings and the inspiration she took from the cult of were-beasts ends up walking the new world she's discovered herself on. She makes friends as she goes, including Anaithnid, and eventually begins to express bipolar symptoms and a hero complex. Living with as many souls as she has in her body without a unifying goal in mind causes her to experience negative aspects of her unique creation. It's here she begins to seek out exactly what and who she is, and who she wishes to be. Through living a nomadic life, she discovers what planeswalking is, and what magic is, and how both of them are directly tied up into who and what she is. On one of these journeys she meets a young thief attempting to decipher Dwarven runes. She aids him here and there, before departing on another journey. Having not found what she aught in the tellings of the witch doctors or seers, she returns to find the young thief had actually used the runes to activate Dwarven guardians in the deep and take over the city-state that he had lived in. He invited her to stay, working as another way to keep the people in line. Few would rise up against a dragon and a king who could slay you at a glance with a bow. She agrees, on the condition that he used some of his resources to search for creatures, people, anything like her. Over the course of his rule, he uses the wealth granted to him to woo Ismerila, and she eventually rules as Queen. She grows restless under his gaze, however, as the people riot in the streets and demand more fair treatment. The wedding gifts she was given, the riches of the palace eventually go back into the streets though this doesn't last long. Though they adored their Queen, and had for the two hundred years she had ruled, the king's heart grew darker and darker. He never lost his greed. Revolution Naturally, revolution followed. Mages called forth storms into the skies for days and days before their assault, so when the city flooded and the dams broke, they called leviathans from the sea. Ismerila attempted to hold them off, believing innocent lives were at stake. When she realized the city was empty, she fled back to the palace. The King lie dead, in some poetic justice, filled with poisoned arrows. She attempts to save him, and is only attacked. Realizing he is dead, she flees again. Many say the city is abandoned to this day, but Ismerila has sworn to never go back, or to speak of the place other than in passing mention that she was royalty once. She enjoyed living in sturdy castles, a likely bi-product of the happier years of her life being in them and the security they brought. She ends up defending many citadels from monsters like giants, trolls, and others, though eventually leaves each one, until she discovers the Oceanic Throne. The Gods of that world come to her, pleading to get her help in healing the realm. She agrees, naturally, and begins to chart out the world around her. Ever so slowly, she brings in the hurt, the abandoned and the lonely to a world where they can be, and work to a greater good. Though only a small section has been restored, Ismerila calls this home. She learns of the Aspect of Void and un-creation, a creature stronger than gods, born from god's dreams, that had attempted to destroy this world, and how they had fought him back. Invigorated by their stories, she helped build temples, and the gods brought even more life back to their worlds to help her. She remains well-loved by the people in Oceanic to this day. Assault on Oceanic However, larger eyes than she had eyes on Oceanic, and she begins to defend it from undesirables. During her defense and travels to secure more of the world, she meets the Necronomicon, Daegarl. They quickly become friends, and he teaches her the truth of mortality, and the Old Gods. He tells her of Kadath and the dream-scape, and eventually they become close friends. During a siege on Oceanic, she dies defending it from an airship. Daegarl steps in, and holds her soul. Proud of the work she had done to save lives, not take them, and proud of her growth as a person, as many people, mends her soul entirely. Rather than a singular, white soul, her soul faded into many different colors as a collective, unified and varied. When she awoke, her body bore no scars, and her wings had been restored, as a collective gift from Bria, the goddess of healers from Oceanic. The eldritch activity of Daegarl was not ignored, however. Eventually, Ryleh its self laid upon Oceanic's shores, a dark tower in the distance. Ismerila expresses her concern and fear, and Daegarl confesses that he is attempting to slay another eldritch being that was far greater than him, and wanted a location to rest in, and defend. Ismerila offers the only thing she can, being Oceanic, and he thanks her. Upon ascension, The King in Yellow appears to destroy Daegarl, and they step into the oceans to battle. Ismerila bends a knee to pray, and in stroke of blind luck, Yog reaches down to remove Hastur from the realm. Having taken an interest in Ismerila, he teaches her of how to walk among dreams, how to heal or corrupt the mind, (Though she refuses to use this gift,) and how to disable bodies without killing them, to keep in touch with Daegarl's wishes. She communicates with him in prayer occasionally, even now. Having settled more into her life, and accepted that she will never learn everything about who she was before, she accepts her home in Oceanic. Anaithnid and Ismerila began their courtship, and became married, as he was "The only mortal who remained in my life". The various different realms had different speeds in that time had passed. So while Ismerila aged, Anaithnid remained unchanged. It still remains unclear exactly how quickly she ages, if at all considering her biology. And so when he came back to Haven, she visited for the first time, with no intentions of leaving.Category:Characters Category:Lore